May Madness: Championship Weekend Running Blog

After a few weather delays, I finally arrived on Long Island for Championship Weekend. It's been overcast and raining here most of the day. When we landed, I couldn't see the ground until we were on the ground. Hoping it clears up a little before tonight.

A slice of New York pizza and a short drive later, I arrived at Uncle Gus's, where I'm staying for the weekend. He's out and about so while I have some time before I head over to Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium at Stony Brook, here's a quick look at some of our preview content going on on ILWomen right now:

Uncle Gus's Picks

Uncle Gus seems pretty confident in his semifinal picks. He has Syracuse and Maryland advancing and just threw out that he's picking Syracuse to win in the championship. Typical New Yorker, going homer on his picks!

The Syracuse Post-Standard ran a story today focusing on the Orange goalies entering today's game. In the story was a note that somewhat surprised me: Syracuse has never won a national championship in a women's sport. If the Orange are victorious today and then again on Sunday, they'd be the first.

I ran this by Uncle Gus. His response: "Well how many sports are there?"

Syracuse offers 11 sports for women. I realize that not all of those have been sponsored by the school since its beginning, but I still found the fact somewhat surprising.

On that note, time to head to the stadium. Follow along for more throughout the weekend...

Update: Friday, 8:43 p.m.

Just over 12 minutes until the beginning of the second semifinal. Obviously, things are running a little behind after Syracuse's miraculous comeback over Florida. I honestly don't think I've ever seen anything quite like that before. From the comeback itself to the Gabi Wiegand goal with nine seconds left in the first overtime that would almost definitely won the game for Florida had it not been called back for an illegal stick, to Syracuse winning the opening draw of the second overtime and scoring within a minute to earn a trip to Sunday's championship game. I'm exhausted just from watching!

Walking around the stadium after the game, the reaction around the place is definitely similar. I ran into Towson coach Sonia LaMonica, who is pregnant with her second child and might have the quote of the weekend:

Me: That game was unreal!Sonia: I know I just almost had this baby over there in overtime!

More reflections from the semifinals to come later. Time for Game No. 2!

Update: Saturday, 9:21 a.m.

What a night! The NCAA semifinals certainly didn't disappoint. Syracuse's comeback from a seven-goal deficit is the second largest comeback in NCAA championship history. In the second game, while Maryland led 5-4 at halftime and took a 6-4 lead early in the second half, the Terps struggled with draws and getting possession and fell to Northwestern 9-7.

Once again, a game brings into the spotlight the idea that women's lacrosse might be ready for a stall warning of some sort. With the Wildcats leading late in the game, the Maryland defense was forced to play out of their element, pressuring out to try and get the ball. This resulted in fouls and at one point, a two-player advantage for the Wildcats.

“It’s tough with the way our rules are that you could possess the ball for a whole half without taking a shot if you wanted to," said Maryland coach Cathy Reese after the game. "It’s tough to play defense against a team that holds the ball and is comfortable to run the time off the clock and that’s where we found ourselves with about 15 minutes left in the game."

On an unrelated note, Uncle Gus is pretty pumped about his Syracuse pick working out. I think he was getting a little down when the Orange trailed 12-5. I got a text that said, "I'm 0-1" pretty early on, later followed by, "well maybe not" which was followed by, "I sure know how to pick 'em!"

The guy goes 4-0 in the quarterfinals and he suddenly thinks he know everything! Needless to say, he's pretty pleased with himself and will be taking Syracuse in tomorrow's championship too.

Update: Saturday, 10:00 p.m.

My day — after that update above — started at the LA Fitness in Lake Grove. LA Fitness is like Globo Gym. The place is gigantic and for a holiday weekend, it was actually pretty crowded. Uncle Gus's workouts used to kick my butt and I'm happy to say that I can now hang pretty well. We hit a little bit of everything today:

Fitness Forum: Uncle Gus
Warmup: 20 minutes treadmill or elliptical, high resistance
Incline Bench Situps: Three sets of 25
Back Rows: Three sets of 20
Bicep Curls: Four sets of 20 (Uncle Gus loves bicep curls)
Chest Flys: Three sets of 20
One Arm Shoulder Presses: Three sets of 20 on each side
Tricep Extensions: Three Sets of 20

I think I'm missing a few exercises in there, but you get the idea.

After our workout and grabbing breakfast (granted it was 1:00 in the afternoon) in Port Jefferson, Uncle Gus had to "make a pit stop for a collection." You think I'm kidding... Did I mention that my uncle may or may not be in the Greek mob?

So we spent the next 20 minutes or so driving around, hitting dead ends left and right. Uncle Gus forgot where the house was. I obviously had no idea where we were, but don't worry. He eventually found it and I hung out in the car while he went inside and took care of business. And the best part? We made it back in time to catch the men's games!

Had to leave around halftime of the Duke-Maryland game to get dinner with some family. Were able to be pretty sly and watch on Uncle Gus's phone.